THE GOLDEN RULE, OR THE PRINCIPLE OF LIVE AND LET LIVE
Life is a natural right in all men, and it is inalienable.
“The Lord is not willing that any should perish.”
Under our constitutions and laws, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are the inalienable rights of all men.
No man has a right, under any sort of provocation to deprive another of his life, no more has another man any right to deprive us of life.
There is an eternal balance in this right to live, and an eternal duty on our part to let our fellow man live. But there are indirect ways of accomplishing another man’s death, and we are equally as guilty as if we were to deprive him of life directly.
A mark was set upon the murderer Cain lest any one finding him should kill him. The right to live may be extended over all men, the sinner as well as the saint, even the murderer is marked so that his right to live shall not be interfered with.
When a man is in the full tide of vigorous life, his impression is that he has more right to live than the weak, decrepit and useless, but there is no such difference—the right is conferred upon all.
We must look to it lest we so act as to deprive another of this right to live, for though we may not actually kill, we may interfere with his life in many ways. We wrong him in many ways; destroy his character; interfere with his existence in business, by slander, and often “drive another to the wall,” as it is said. But when we do that we are interfering with that man’s right to live, for the right is attached to everything that a man may do. I have a right to work, but you say, “Not unless you do as I say.” This is an invasion of his right to live.
Every man orders his life to suit himself, it is his life and no one may order it for him. The Golden Rule is here exemplified: “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” It is a good and safe rule to follow always.